Indiana Fever guard Lexie Hull took an elbow to the face from Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas during the third quarter of the two teams' meeting on Thursday night. The incident drew attention because Thomas is the same player who forcefully threw Fever star Caitlin Clark to the ground two weeks earlier, fuelling an increasingly heated rivalry between the sides. The "catch" flagged in the headline is that the writer — no fan of Thomas — argues the contact was simply an ordinary basketball play rather than a deliberate cheap shot.

The Fever won the game 92-89, sealed by a pair of Sophie Cunningham free throws at the finish, though Clark did not play, having been rested as a planned decision by head coach Stephanie White. Despite the loss, Thomas was the standout performer, scoring 22 points on 10-of-18 shooting. The elbow on Hull was reviewed by officials and ultimately ruled a shooting foul on Hull rather than a foul on Thomas, a call the writer agreed was correct.